An extraordinary experience that I highly recommend

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2019)

Initially I thought this was a zombie/ horror movie and I do not normally watch these. But as it turned out, it is not technically a zombie movie and even if it is edging towards that, it is so much more than that and I am glad now to have it in my collection.
While of course you can watch it purely as entertainment or a warning about how easily a pandemic or other events can upset everything we take for granted, it contains a much more universal truth which makes this movie so special to me.
(spoilers ahead)
At the beginning of the film we see the main character of Jim (who is played by the superbly talented Cillian Murphy) lost, alone and feeling depressed. What he is looking for throughout the movie is something we consciously or subconsciously all chase: reaching an inner serenity, a feeling of coming home, where we feel secure, peaceful, to belong somewhere. Although this is primarily something inside us, we often tend to seek it mainly on the outside. We think: when I complete this job, get this house or this partner, I will finally be able to relax and be happy. But by doing so, we make our happiness dependant on things that are subject to frequent change. Whenever we seem to reach satisfaction, it slips out of our hands again. In the film it becomes even more apparent, as the apocalyptic setting finally makes it impossible to seek stability on the outside.
Whenever Jim finds a father figure or a place of rest, something happens and he has to move on or flee again. Near the end of the film, when there is no prospect of help and there is nowhere left to go, he finds that quality in himself, he steps up to protect Selina and outwits the soldiers. And in the moment where he has found that in himself, it manifests on the outside, in the love of Selena and the peaceful spot in the countryside. That is why I am so glad they went with the ending of the film that they did. The last shot of Jim looking so calm, confident and optimistic and no longer depressed brought it full circle for me.